The Reds' Last Stand

Saturday morning the the Rue des Cinq
Diamants.

On the Butte-aux-Cailles

Paris:- Saturday, 22. June 2002:- When I told my
landlord last week that I had a date to see an apartment
for rent on the Butte-aux-Cailles, he said its barricades
were the last to hold-out during the Paris Commune in
1871.

He said this in the way that some Parisians have, with
pride in Paris' revolutionary past. Almost as if, if he
wasn't locked into this place in the 14th that he is asking
me to leave, he would love to move over there and be proud
to be close to its history.

All I can say is I have picked a very beautiful day to
go a look at an apartment for rent. The sky has an almost
glassy look to its blueness, the sun is like a laser and
the shadows are inky. The garbagemen sweeping up last
night's Fête de la Musique debris look like carnival
figures, in Paris' green and yellow, 'for Brazil.'

The man showing me the apartment says he thinks the
building dates to about, maybe, 1880. When he shows me its
storage space, which is not underground, it smells like it
is underground. Somewhere below there are the limestone
shafts, the quarries, and they're probably not far
down.

When we've seen what there is to see, we part. There
will be other prospective tenants around to look at the
apartment too. He says he will chose the 'winner' and let
me know.

This might be my new neighborhood, so I wander up the
street and into the café Chez Gladines to spy out the land a bit. The weather certainly
makes it seem attractive. The café is village-like.
The whole street is village-like. But if this is where the
Commune has its last stand, then it has this
story:

The right position in Chez Gladines gives
views of everybody passing.

Louis-Napoléon started out life in 1801 as
Napoléon Bonapartes' nephew. In his youth he had
written a tract titled, 'The Extinction of Poverty' and had
been a 'carbonaro' and small-time revolutionary in central
Italy in 1831.

Unable to get re-elected President of France because it
was forbidden by the constitution, he became Emperor
instead via a coup d'etat during the night of 1-2. December
in 1851. Parisians, who were a bit worn out by the events
of 1848, put up little resistance and only two or three
hundred were massacred on Thursday, 4. December under the
adroit leadership of Saint-Arnauld.

Beyond Paris, the countryside had embraced the social
ideas of republicanism, and artists joined lumberjacks and
innkeepers and even day-laborers to protest. These 'Reds,'
'bandits' and 'assassins' found out the hard way about
prison and deportation. In Paris, 84 deputies were expelled
from the legislature, and elsewhere, 32 departments were
put under martial law.

Asked to vote in favor of the coup d'etat at the end of
1852, the 'no thanks' votes were numbered as 650,000 and
there were 1.5 million abstentions. This plebiscite created
the title 'Emperor' and the name of Napoléon
III.

According to tradition, France has had some glorious
moments, but it doesn't have much success with 'great' wars
- so Napoléon III lucked out in Mexico and the
Crimea, has mild successes with other minor wars and then
finally flopped in France itself - in 1870 - when he ran up
against Otto von Bismarck, who was astute, more forceful
and without a single scruple.

The 'Affichage Illegal'
poster is probably illegal too.

In the 20 years between the two dates of 1851 and 1870,
the Industrial Revolution happened in France. Non-violent
strikes were permitted by law in 1864, as were cooperatives
and moderate unions. This resulted in the foundation of the
International Workingmen's Association, which was behind
violent strikes in 1869 and 1870.

At about the same time, Napoléon III 'assisted'
Bismarck in consolidating Germany under Prussian domination
while excluding Austrian influence, in return for - well,
Bismarck had no scruples so France did not 'get' Luxembourg
or 'two or three' cities.

In 1870, in another sleazy deal concerning Spain, a
polite but negative response from Kaiser Wilhelm was
'manipulated' into what Napoléon III considered to
be an insult to France, and the Empress, soldiers, deputies
and the French press agreed with enthusiasm.

So the Emperor declared war on Prussia on Tuesday,19.
July 1870 and lost everything within six weeks. His
outnumbered and out-gunned armies surrendered and he was
captured and eventually sent to England and exile, where he
died three years later.

Parisians did not care for this at all. They forced the
dissolution of the legislature and then moved on to the
Hôtel de Ville, where a new republic was declared on
Sunday, 4. September. A provisional government was formed
to continue the war.

Starting from total defeat as it were, the new
government contacted Bismarck, who immediately demanded
Alsace-Lorraine. Instead of meekly giving up what the
Prussians had already captured, the Parisians decided to
fight on, but by Monday, 19. September the city was
besieged.

Léon Gambetta flew to Tours to organize a new
army of 600,000 men - almost overnight - to 'save' Paris,
but Marechal Achille Bazine preferred surrendering near
Metz in the east, so this freed additional Prussian troops
for the siege of Paris - and the whole thing was over by
January 1871, with Bismarck making himself comfy in the
throne room at Versailles.

At this point, it was decided to hold a vote - elections
are always popular in France - about surrendering
everything. With republicans voting to continue the war,
the royalists voted against it, in a majority. This 'peace'
would cost France a lot.

It also resulted in the union of Germany, with Wilhelm
being crowned as Kaiser of Germany in the Hall of Mirrors
at Versailles on Wednesday, 18. January 1871. This was the
Prussians' 'revenge' for the past adventures of Louis XIV
and Napoléon. Curiously, this defeat also opened the
door to Italian unification. The French garrison was
recalled from its guard duties of the Papal states, and
Italy's king was able to set up housekeeping in Rome.

In this state of foreign occupation in France, Paris had
not surrendered its defensive cannons. The ideas of
democracy, socialism, unionism, anarchism, libertarianism
and revolution were alive and well in the city - especially
after the more prosperous inhabitants of the city had fled,
allowed to leave by the helpful Prussians.

Adolphe Thiers, head of the national government, had
negotiated the details of the peace with Prussia. Next on
his agenda was raising money to pay off the Prussians, and
for this he needed the manufacturing and commercial
conglomerate of Paris.

Thiers picked an early Saturday morning in March of 1871
to try and seize the Paris' National Guard's cannons, and
thus set off the revolution known as the Paris Commune.

Government troops quickly found themselves outnumbered
by Paris' own National Guard. On Montmartre the troops
hesitated to fire on its residents, and ended up arresting
their own commander, who was shot a little later. Elsewhere
in the city, troops ignored their officers and Thiers had
to retreat.

Evacuating the Versailles' government troops out of
Paris did not go smoothly - with 20,000 left behind. One
group of 1500 soldiers with no orders at all sat out the
coming events.

That night the National Guard occupied the Hôtel
de Ville and all other public buildings in the capital.
This was spontaneous and nobody knew who was in charge.
Some of the revolutionary committees were all for marching
on Versailles, while others were against it.

The National Guard's Central Committee decided it should
legalize itself, by holding talks with the city's mayors,
with the intent of holding elections so that somebody else
would
be in charge. Others in the city felt that events were
running away from them. The Central Committee had to be
persuaded to stay in office until the elections were
held.

More 'affichage illegal' - as a reminder that
modern life is made up of folding green.

These took place a week later and 227,000 votes were
cast. Since many of the bourgeois had fled, and with a
proportional voting system favoring the heavily populated
working-class quarters, the left won handily. The 15 to 20
republican moderates who were also elected soon
resigned.

The party candidate lists of the Vigilance committees in
the working-class districts, losers in earlier elections,
were now the pro-Communard winners. The vote for the
Communards was a defensive vote against Thiers and the
monarchist-dominated National Assembly at Versailles. It
was also a vote against the Prussians.

In the bright spring sunshine morning on Tuesday, 28.
March 1871, the Commune was formally installed at the
Hôtel de Ville. Wearing red, their names were read
out before the assembled Parisians and the National Guards.
They were lined up on the steps, under a canopy, beneath a
bust of the République. Higher yet, a red flag flew
from the pole it had been attached to 10 days earlier.
Cannons saluted the Paris Commune.

The 81 members were a mixed, but mostly young, group.
The Commune's head of police, Raoul Rigault, was 25. Some
had been middle-class, some were journalists. There were
three doctors, three teachers, three lawyers, one vet, one
architect, and 11 who had been shop workers.

About 35 of the total were manual workers - craftsmen,
metal-workers, bookbinders, masons and carpenters. Some of
these were the 40 who were also active in the labor
movement and most of them had joined the International.

Hardly any of them trusted politicians, or political
power - they were inclined to be anarchists. At first,
meetings of the Commune were held in secret, but then they
were held in public. It wad hard to find a hall big enough
for the meetings. Members were supposed to report back to
those who had elected them.

The Commune passed reform, rather than revolutionary,
legislation. Many issues had been under debate in
working-class circles for 30 years. Unemployment was
problem and one idea proposed the takeover of idle shops
and factories. Education was another priority - the
National Guards were called upon to evict priests and nuns
from half the schools that were Catholic, and replace them
with Republicans. Attempts were made to set up schools for
girls, and day nurseries were proposed for installation
near factories.

The burning of a guillotine and the demolition of the
Vendôme column were hugely popular ceremonies.
Otherwise, for a time, there was a festive air in the
city.

None of this was well-regarded by the other government
in Versailles. Outside of France, the Commune's proposals
and actions were regarded with horror. Bismarck threatened
the French with the might of the Prussian army if Thiers
did not stamp out the red menace.

Thiers' troops began the attack on Paris on Sunday, 2.
April. The Commune stood its ground, its barricades held,
until Sunday, 21. May. The bloody street battles continued
for a week. Baron Haussmann's beautiful boulevards showed
their purpose, as the government troops moved into Paris in
two columns, and easily outflanked barricades. Western
Paris had fallen by the following day.

Barricades not built in the preceding months were thrown
up hurriedly. One in the Rue de Rivoli became five metres
high by several deep. In all, on Sunday, 160 were erected.
There was one of mattresses in the Rue de Beaubourg. Others
were merely turned-over buses and taxis.

The Prussians let Versailles' troops move between their
siege positions and Paris, so the government troops could
force other entries. The Communards torched buildings that
provided look-outs for snipers - such as the Tuileries
Palace. Smoke from the many fires could be seen in far-off
Saint-Germain-en-Laye.

The big barricade on Rivoli fell on Wednesday. Its 30
surviving defenders were shot on the spot. The Hôtel
de Ville was set on fire on Wednesday too, to cover the
retreat of its defenders. The police prefecture and Palais
de Justice buildings were set alight.

Each time a barricade fell, its defenders were shot.
Three hundred who sought sanctuary in the Madeleine church,
were taken out and shot. Government troops took all the
medical staff and the wounded out of a field hospital near
Saint-Sulpice and shot 80 of them. The battle in the
Quartier Latin lasted two days.

In the Père-Lachaise cemetery, 200 National
Guards had failed to erect proper defenses. Versailles'
troops blew down the gates
and hand-to-hand fighting raged in the cemetery. Those not
killed in the battle were lined up against the
'Federalist's Wall' and shot. Others were brought in and
shot here too.

The window ofthe 'Friends of the
Commune' shop.

The defense of Paris by the Commune was finished on
Sunday, 28. May. The shooting continued. Anybody suspected
of being even a little 'pink' was shot. Scores were settled
and more Parisians were shot.

More civilians died in Paris in the last week of May
1871 than soldiers did in the war with the Prussians. More
died during the Commune than in the Revolutionary 'terror.'
Estimates put the Parisian death toll at 30,000.
Versailles' troops lost 900 killed.

Another 50,000 were arrested and many were deported to
France's colonies, or died on the way to them or in
prisons. Some got away to live in exile in other countries.
Paris remained under martial law for five years afterwards.
The International was outlawed. Nine years later, in 1880,
when the Socialists were back in power, an amnesty was
declared.

The only thing I haven't been able to find out are the
details about the final battle of the barricades on the
Butte-aux-Cailles. But just up the block from Chez
Gladines, I find a shop whose owner is closing its
grill.

This is the headquarters of 'Les Amis de la Commune de
Paris,' which is a non-profit organization dedicated to
keeping the memory of it alive and the facts about it
straight. The shop's window is full of books, pamphlets and
sports a very red flag.

The shop's keeper rolls up the grill again and pops
inside to get me a copy of the association's brochure. When
the Communards began returning from exile, they started the
association in 1882. Basically, the Commune lives on 131
years later and its aims haven't changed.

Reading:- Metropole Paris reader Sally Dilgart -
by total coincidence! - has been reading about the Paris
Commune. She recommends 'The Fall of Paris, The Siege and
The Commune' by Alistair Horne, which was published by
Macmillan in 1965 and reprinted in 1967 by the Reprint
Society, London. Possibly easier to find is 'Paris Babylon'
by Rupert Christiansen, published by Penguin, ISBN 0 14
01.2980.

Note:- the Parisian 'National Guard,' also
called Federalists, were the opponents of the troops
commanded by the government led by Thiers in Versailles.
The National Guards' initial purpose was to defend Paris
from an invasion by the Prussian army, and this is why they
were equipped with cannons.